Design Opinion Request

[magicalwonders]

Hi Folks,

I'd value some input on a decision I need to make on the placement of "Next page"/"Previous page" links.

If you can take a look at the following url:

http://support.actinic.co.uk/~kcsupp...xclusives.html

I feel that I only really have two choices. (that would look O.K.)

1. Place links to the right of the section headings in the main panel (Top & Bottom). On the same horizontal line within the grey panel.

2. Place the links to the right in the blue area between the grey panel and the Navigation. (Top & Bottom)

My first thoughts were towards option 1, but I'm now thinking that having extra stuff on the same lines at the headings might look a bit crowded?

Anyone have any thought on this?

Many thanks

Myles Sinclair

[pinbrook]

I'll be honest....I feel you have this problem because the existing design is flawed.

The grey panel is very crowded, and there is no distinction within the blue background to help order the page.

It sometimes is a good idea to use colour to help define a page and thus you can draw people into finding their way around a site by intuition.

Where ever you place the next/previous links is going to cause them to be lost.

IMHO

[magicalwonders]

Thanks for your response Jo,

And for taking the time to look at this.

The grey panel is very crowded, and there is no distinction within the blue background to help order the page.

I think the grey panel looks crowded because I have borders turned on at the moment. This is only whilst it's in design stage. Because of the number of products I'll eventually have listed I really need a two column solution. But I can always try it out as a single column and see how it look. I don't suppose it will make that much difference to download times.

Not sure what you mean by "no distinction within the blue background..." Can you expand a bit on what you mean by that.

My overall aim is to keep the site as simple and as fast as possible. No spinning gifs or flash, or the need to download plugins by the user.

I also have the task of trying to make it look like my main site (not yet live) at this url: http://www.markfarrar.co.uk/magicalwonders2/index.php

If you check this out you'll see that the navigation can't get much easier.

I'm using clean layout 14 and the only real change I've made to the look apart from the colour scheme is to add a blue border at the bottom of the page. So I'm not too sure why you think the design is flawed. Is it because I'm only using two colours?

Most people expect underlined text to be a link, so I'm not sure I can make it any simpler or intuitive than it is.

Bearing in mind that I want people to believe that they are still within my main site when shopping, maybe you could let me know if you get the time, how you would deal with the links issue differently?

Many thanks

Myles

[pinbrook]

Okey Dokey......

Now is the time to put my money where my mouth is.....

My previous post was trying to say that I felt that the design was a bit haphazard, ie some page elements look as if they were plonked on the page at random. The overall effect is one of simplicity - which is to be aspired too.

I tried to make it clear that I was making a personal statement, and I think you took my comments in the way I intended. I've attached a gif to this post with a modified layout, one which i think is a little more structured.

If I were designing this site and had to adhere to the colours/images etc I would be inclined to mould both the existing design and the shop design towards this 3rd layout. Just my opinion. And I'd add icons beside the links at the top, ie a little house for home, envelope for contact us etc etc, and possibly bullet the left hand nav

If you like the layout please feel free to use it, I'd like to know what you think!

[magicalwonders]

Hi Jo,

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this.

I suppose in some ways I'm trading design for function at the moment. Your design is probably more pleasing to the eye than mine. However, my design allows for navigation at the bottom of a scroll rather than scrolling back up the page. As all my pages will involve a vertical scroll, I think this feature will be useful. If it is included in your version, it will change the look quite a bit. This might even affect which version looks best?

I have previously considered gifs for navigation such as "envelope" for "contact Us" etc., but have opted for text navigation at the moment to speed up that download time. I know it might only be a second or two, but it all adds up. I'm open to being convinced otherwise though.

I'm sure my design will morph somewhat during the next couple of years and will be completely different to what it is now. But it will always be one of those situations where "you can please all of the people some of the time...etc.," As an example, some folk consider an unmade bed or a pickled sheep to be art. Personally, I don't get it. But some people see merit in it.

I do like the idea of a bigger canvas for product and content as in your example and I think my morphing will go towards that direction.

Many thanks again for your input on this.

Best wishes,

Myles